Armed confrontations between Thailand and Cambodia entered a second day on Tuesday, both parties asserted, in defiance of pleas from the United States to cease hostilities and abide by a months-old Trump-endorsed tranquility pact that now appears close to total failure.
At least eight individuals have perished since the recent skirmishes commenced, per reports from both sides. By Tuesday, the combat had extended to further locations along the contested frontier, featuring allegations of projectile bombardments and unmanned aerial attacks in certain zones.
Roughly 400,000 residents living near the boundary separating the Southeast Asian nations have been relocated in the most recent eruption.
And Thai Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow intimated the clashes might grow, telling CNN in a recorded dialogue that military activities would persist “until we feel that sovereignty and territorial integrity are not challenged.”
The fighting, concerning decades-old competing land assertions along their 500-mile (800-kilometer) terrestrial boundary is the most intense between Thailand and Cambodia since a fatal five-day confrontation in July.
The already fragile harmony arrangement, formalized in October in the presence of US President Donald Trump, who acclaimed it as evidence of his skill to settle disputes, now seems at risk of dissolving.
Here is what to be aware of.
Why are they battling once more?
We do not precisely know.
Both sides blame the other for initiating fire, and CNN cannot confirm who did.
Cambodia had been mobilizing substantial weaponry and repositioning armed units, the Thai air force stated.
Cambodia’s Ministry of National Defense refuted the accusations. The Cambodian military reported that Thai forces had “engaged in numerous provocative maneuvers for many days,” without furnishing specifics.
The navy maintained that Cambodian personnel discharged heavy ordnance, including BM-21 rockets, into civilian locales, and charged Cambodia with deploying special operations contingents and sharp-shooters to the demarcation line, of excavating trenches to fortify stances, and encroaching into Thai domain in the coastal Trat province “in a direct and serious threat to Thailand’s sovereignty.”
Cambodia’s army declared Tuesday that Thailand’s military had executed “uninterrupted discharge throughout the evening” in several border regions utilizing “widespread drones” and “noxious fumes.”
Seven Cambodian non-combatants perished and around 20 others were injured, according to the nation’s Interior Ministry. Thailand reported one of its service members was killed.
How severe might this become?
The United Nations Secretary-General and the European Union have implored temperance from both factions. And a senior US administration representative informed CNN Monday that “President Trump is committed to the ongoing cessation of hostility and expects the governments of Cambodia and Thailand to fully honor their pledges to conclude this conflict.”
But there seems to have been minimal in the way of easing tension on the ground.
Thai Foreign Minister Sihasak informed CNN that Thailand would not disregard potential further assaults, stating that military action would continue “until we feel that sovereignty and territorial integrity are not challenged.”
And on Monday, Thailand’s Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul remarked to journalists in Bangkok that “Cambodia must adhere to (Thailand), in order to halt the fighting.”
When questioned about the Trump-supported tranquility accord signed in Malaysia, he replied: “I do not recall that any longer.”
People rest inside a temporary refuge amidst fatal clashes between Thailand and Cambodia along a disputed border region at Chroy Neang Ngourn Pagoda, in Siem Reap, Cambodia on December 8, 2025.
People rest inside a temporary shelter amid deadly clashes between Thailand and Cambodia along a disputed border area at Chroy Neang Ngourn Pagoda, in Siem Reap, Cambodia on December 8, 2025. Soviet Yarn/Reuters
Hun Sen, the impactful former head of Cambodia and current Senate President commented in a Facebook entry Tuesday, “our armed forces of all sorts must retaliate at all spots where the adversary strikes.”
The passionate language highlights the deeply set apprehension and mistrust between the two nearby states that has come to characterize their connection since the fatal July conflict that claimed numerous lives and displaced about 200,000 on both sides of the boundary.
What about that truce?
That understanding was formalized in Malaysia in October. Trump, who supervised the proceeding, had assisted in negotiating it – in part, by threatening he would not forge commerce deals with either nation if they declined.
But unease had been building for weeks, including a landmine detonation that wounded four Thai soldiers in November.
Subsequent to that rupture, Thailand paused all efforts on the tranquility accord, and accused Cambodia of breaching the joint declaration by planting new landmines – an assertion Cambodia strongly disputes. The conditional freeing of 18 Cambodian captives seized during the July combat was also suspended.
The disagreement has its foundations in the charting of Cambodia’s boundary by its former colonizing master France, and observers had warned of an extensive path ahead before a sustainable calm understanding would be attained. The peace proclamation did not resolve that territorial contention.
When asked by CNN if Thailand was planning to deliberate the newest border confrontations with Trump, Sihasak, the Thai foreign minister, stated it was up to Cambodia and Thailand to “sort things out.”
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